If a threat is verified, in a fraction of a second the threat warning system activates the system’s pre-set threat response protocols and alerts personnel to the threat as it reports details for further analysis and/or action. In most circumstances, threat warnings are developed autonomously in response to threat detection data, because their systems are designed to process, interpret, and validate or invalidate the threat detection data much more quickly and accurately than is humanly possible, which also leads to an appropriate follow-through threat response more quickly.
Accuracy and speed in interpretation of threat detection data is vitally important to the threat warning process, both to ensure an effective, time-sensitive response when necessary and to avoid initiating an aggressive weapons response if the perceived threat turns out to be innocuous or non-existent. Threat warning accuracy is also vital in reinforcing confidence in the system among flight crews and other personnel who depend on it for mission survival.
Do threat warning systems all work the same way?
- • Identifying real threats while eliminating false alarms
- • Providing high probability and few false alarms based on better threat detection input
- • Long-range warnings and early cue times that are critical to defeat advanced threats
- • Reduced false alarm rates by rejection of potential false “detection” alarm tracks
- • Improved ability to warn against threats in low confidence tracks of missiles
What threats do these systems warn against?
- • Ground-, air-, or ship-based missiles
- • ManPAD missiles
- • Ballistic missile launches
- • Hostile fire projectiles (Small arms, heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft artillery, unguided rockets, and RPGs)
- • Cyberattacks
Due to the significant damage these threats represent, a TDR system’s effectiveness is measured by two factors – its ability to identify threats accurately and its ability to decide with certainty that a threat is real, including filtering out false positives. These two critical tasks are the primary jobs of threat warning, assuring confidence in warnings and prompting the most appropriate threat response, from deploying electronic or kinetic countermeasures to signaling for a more severe counterattack.
What targets do threat warning systems protect?
- • Military rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft
- • Navy ships and submarines
- • Military ground vehicles and field operations
- • Critical infrastructure facilities
- • Airports
- • Head-of-state aircraft
- • Cargo ships and aircraft
- • Railroads and transit systems
How are threat warning technologies implemented?
Traditionally, threat detection and response systems were developed to counter specific threats or threat types. The sophisticated, more advanced threat warnings of today, however, come from managed Threat Detection and Response (TDR) systems that address current threats while building anticipated threats into their capabilities to address future threats. To do this, they use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that constantly updates threat knowledge repositories to warn against new and evolving threats in real time, anticipate and adjust for new capabilities, and inform threat responses.
Over the years, threat warning systems have become smarter, faster, and more powerful, as well as much smaller, lighter, more energy efficient, and easier to integrate into security infrastructures. As a result, threat warning is now effective on numerous platforms, from jets and other fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and navy vessels to ground vehicles, cyber infrastructures, satellites, and more. This adaptability is a major advantage on systems that are built, implemented, and sustained to minimize vulnerabilities, prevent and repel attacks, and support long-term resilience against incursions.
Related topics to explore
This information page is provided as a service to our readers by BAE Systems, Inc., a U.S.-based world leader in aerospace, defense, power, and intelligence solutions. Learn more about us here.